I want to start by recommending Firefighter Rob as THE GUY TO GET if you want a firefighter and firetruck at your three year old’s birthday party. We cruised the streets of Northcote in his decomissioned CFA rig. We lit up a Bastings Street auction as excited party-goers waved to bemused real estate hounds. Accompanying mums and dads sheepishly requested rides. It’s all there on side A of Firefighter Rob’s brochure – lights, sirens, action!

But what I love best about Firefighter Rob’s party brochure is that if you flip over to side B, there’s a little something for the dads:

God that ad makes me laugh. It has the perfect counterbalance of coquettish helmet tilt and red stamped ‘At Bulk Store Prizes!’ I like to imagine Firefighter Rob with the graphic designers, nutting through the marketing strategy. ‘I guess I could hold up a fire extinguisher, but who wants to stare at a sixty something ex CFA volunteer …’ And then I picture Firefighter Rob and the graphic designer and Firefighter Rob’s marketing team falling into a silent funk, attempting to nut out a solution, until finally one of them leaps to attention with, ‘I’ve got it! My next door neighbour’s niece does FHM modelling!’

Of course in the annals of ‘sex sells’ history, Firefighter Rob’s fire extinguishers are positively G-rated. And yet he is clearly a graduate of the Windsor Smith school of ‘no product too unsaucy.’

In case you hadn’t noticed, this is the part of the blog in which I blatantly lift other saucier examples, and pretend that it’s somehow for a sociological or political purpose, sort of like Gruen Planet does.

All of these have been taken from Bored Panda and Inspirartionfeed compilations:

All of these advertising agencies had bigger budgets than Firefighter Rob, and none of these pictures were the sexy B-side to a brochure handed out at kids parties.

Which is why Firefighter Rob’s ad for fire extinguishers is, when regarded within its historical context and method of distribution, the sexiest ad of all time. Kudos, Rob.